One of the significant messages Iain Chambers puts forth in his article Unrealized Democracy and a Posthumanist Art, is the existence of a constant disruption in the language, history, and culture of the Western world brought about by its own mechanisms of globalization, homogenization, and modernity. The difference that diverse culture brings to the western world, through migration, challenges the ideas of equality and acceptance in the historical western view of democracy. What is at stake is how identity is continually being shifted and influenced, through inclusion and exclusion, based on its level of disruption within the current system. Chambers points out that modernity was built on a framework of “inequalities” and that the west’s resistance to difference, but insistence on equality, is contradictory (Chambers 169). I think part of what Chambers is referring to as “Unrealized Democracy” in the title of the article is the sense that the idea of democracy does not mean equality (which it should), and that a sense of citizenship should include a person’s freedom to shape their own future while also being able to provide for themselves. This means that equality and opportunity for all should exist and be recognized, but seems to fall away in the event of things like increasing poverty in an unbalanced economic system. This can be seen in the current global economic situation where certain groups of citizens are so affected that they are not living and are merely getting by. These are consequences which affect identity, change the way in which a person positions themselves within the world view, and keeps equality at a controllable distance along with difference.
In his book, Migrancy, Culture, Identity Iain Chambers discusses...
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...ern world and its resistance to any breach in regard to its long standing framework of identity, and the fact that hybrid culture and globalization are its opposing forces. The inevitable arrival of a seemingly smaller and smaller world, I believe, is edging us closer and closer to Posthumanist ways of thinking, and art in a Posthumanist world is a tool that can be used to show how differences should be thought of as qualities that form each of our identities, as opposed to signifiers that dictate exclusion.
Works Cited
1) Chambers, Iain. "An Impossible Homecoming." Migrancy, Culture, Identity. London: Routledge, 1994.
1-13. Print.
2) Haraway, Donna J, "Situated Knowledges" in Simians, Cyborgs, and Women. Routledge, New York: 1991
3) Herbrechter, Stefan. "A Genealogy of Posthumansim." Posthumanism: A Critical Analysis. New York: Bloomsbury, 2013. 39. Print.
ABSTRACT: British Avant-Garde art, poses a challenge to traditional aesthetic analysis. This paper will argue that such art is best understood in terms of Wittgenstein¡¦s concept of "seeing-as," and will point out that the artists often use this concept in describing their work. This is significant in that if we are to understand art in terms of cultural practice, then we must actually look at the practice. We will discuss initiatives such as the work of Damien Hirst, most famous for his animals in formaldehyde series, and that of Simon Patterson, who warps diagrams, e.g., replacing the names of stops on London Underground maps with those of philosophers. Cornelia Parker¡¦s idea that visual appeal is not the most important thing, but rather that the questions that are set up in an attempt to create an "almost invisible" art are what are central, will also be discussed. Also, if we concur with Danto¡¦s claims that "contemporary art no longer allows itself to be represented by master narratives," that Nothing is ruled out.", then it is indeed fruitful to understand art in terms of seeing-as. For application of this concept to art explains what occurs conceptually when the viewer shifts from identifying a work, as an art object, and then as not an art object, and explains why nothing is ruled out.
Over the decades, art has been used as a weapon against the callousness of various social constructs - it has been used to challenge authority, to counter ideologies, to get a message across and to make a difference. In the same way, classical poetry and literature written by minds belonging to a different time, a different place and a different community have somehow found a way to transcend the boundaries set by time and space and have been carried through the ages to somehow seep into contemporary times and shape our society in ways we cannot fathom.
What is ‘Art’? Does the term describe a tangible object, experiential event, process, technique, medium, or creative skill? Does it imply attractive decoration, pleasant arrangement, and sound financial investment - or can art provoke, be unattractive, make people uncomfortable, and be fleeting? Today, Art is subjective, open to interpretation and encompasses the spectrum of the visual, literary, dance, and musical humanities - often overlapping one another. As such, Art and its practice can be all of the above and more. Post World War II, Modernist theories were waning and a general dissatisfaction was building in the United States and other westernized countries that ultimately led up to the cultural and social revolution of the 1960’s. The period also parallels a rise in relative wealth and subsequent mass consumption of commodities, education, and cultural activities within all the socioeconomic classes. Personal expression became acceptable and art practice exploded to include multiple fields of activity that Rosalind Krauss likens to “an extraordinary practice in elasticity”. Interest in ecology, performance, process, alternative materials, a loosening of social mores and experimentation with altered states of reality contributed to the rise of what is now known amply as Postmodernism. Civil rights, the anti-war movement, rise of feminism, and a political movement left of center created egalitarian entrances for many into various fields of study including Art. Nevertheless, similar to the current state of Western Civilization, not everyone appreciates an open multiplicity of voices often differing in viewpoints from safer, more conservative ones. It is in this context that artists Robert Smithson and Richard Serra bega...
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Cliche as it may be, this maxim holds true throughout the world, whether it be in regards to celebrities, cars, rural lanscapes, gritty cityscapes, your co-worker’s children, or your father-in-law’s turkey carving skills. Holding differing points of view in regards to what is considered beauty is something that humanity has argued over for centuries. What one sees as merely a rundown subway car, another may see the small sparks of creativity in the walls’ grafitti, the colorful bursts of commuters’ clothing, the sheer beauty of humanity itself in the hidden spaces of the train. Discussions over what is truly beautiful are common throughout humanity’s history, though nowhere are they as obvious or as well documented as they are in the art world.
As individualism continued to develop in society and culture, it also continued in the art that we have covered since the midterm exam. A later industrial revolution led to the era often called the “roaring 20s,” a period of extremes between wealth and poverty, growth and depression, new opportunities and stagnation. The development of capitalism and a creeping of commercial values in society led to an artistic hostility toward--and alienation from--a materialistic society. How artists demonstrated this individualism in their work and activities was a response to the perspectives of the ideas that grew out of technological advances that caused the world to change and develop in new ways. Artists represented their experience and
James Hughes, Nick Bostrum and Jonathan D. Moreno. “Human vs. Posthuman.” The Hastings Center Report 37.5 (2007): 4-7. JSTOR. Web. 15 Jan 2014.
Abstract Expressionism is making its comeback within the art world. Coined as an artist movement in the 1940’s and 1950’s, at the New York School, American Abstract Expressionist began to express many ideas relevant to humanity and the world around human civilization. However, the subject matters, contributing to artists, were not meant to represent the ever-changing world around them. Rather, how the world around them affected the artist themselves. The works swayed by such worldly influences, become an important article within the artists’ pieces. Subjectively, looking inward to express the artist psyche, artists within the Abstract Expressionism movement became a part of their paintings. Making the paintings more of a representation of one’s self.
The works of our century are the mirrors of our predicament produced by some of the most sensitive minds of our time. In the light of our predicament we must look at the works of contemporary art, and conversely, in the light of contemporary art we must look at our predicament.
Though people can look into color and composition, others can still even look into the source of the art itself. Cole goes deeper, delving into the source of the art, looking in particular into the idea of cultural appropriation and the view a person can give others. Though it is good for people to be exposed to different opinions of a group or an object, sometimes people can find it difficult to tell the difference between the reality and the art itself. Sometimes art can be so powerful that its message stays and impacts its audience to the point where the viewer’s image of the subject of the art changes entirely. Cole brings up an important question about art, however. Art has become some kind of media for spreading awareness and even wisdom at times, but in reality, “there is also the question of what the photograph is for, what role it plays within the economic circulation of images” (973). Cole might even be implying that Nussbaum’s advertisement can sometimes be the point of some media, and that sometimes the different genres of art can just be to make someone with a particular interest happy. One more point that Cole makes is that “[a]rt is always difficult, but it is especially difficult when it comes to telling other people’s stories.” (974) Truthfully, awareness and other like-concepts are difficult to keep going when a person or a group is not directly involved.
This art, like most, can be applied to the viewer in any way they wish. A person may look at one of the sculptures and see themselves. They may see a man who is going through challenges similar to their own; someone who is trying to free himself from these bounds. Such challenges may include an attempt to escape financial bounds or personal weaknesses. The interpretations are only limited to the comparisons a viewer
Art is a very important part of humanity’s history, and it can be found anywhere from the walls of caves to the halls of museums. The artists that created these works of art were influenced by a multitude of factors including personal issues, politics, and other art movements. Frida Kahlo and Vincent van Gogh, two wildly popular artists, have left behind artwork, that to this day, influences and fascinates people around the world. Their painting styles and personal lives are vastly different, but both artists managed to capture the emotions that they were feeling and used them to create artwork.
In art history, interpretation identifies the influences of time and place on the artist, thus images of the same subject may be created at different times or in different locations that may have little in common. Their differences reflect the contrasting personal and cultural traditions and values of each artist. Art helps one to analyze our peers by understanding the type of person one is interacting with, that is, the social skills that one needs to interact with individuals of different cultural backgrounds. By observing the subject of art, one is able to access the subject on how it relates to the current
...took place. Through , an area of its own had been set aside for man’s artistic creativity. Now independence turned into domination, and the tendency towards differentiation gave way to desire for total inclusiveness. Art, after liberating itself from service under alien powers, (namely the repression of artists and their art, or the lack of education in the arts) aspired in its turn to embrace life in its entirety. In everything, there is art, and in art, there is everything. Or so it was in German romantic thought.
In the website http://www.wmd.org/about/current-challenges/current-challenges-democracy it states how Democratic progress has increased around the world such as; a downfall of authoritarian military regimes in Latin, the demolishing of the apartheid regime in South Africa, and the fall of the Communist System and Berlin Wall. All of these stories show that democracy does not come from itself; the website continues by showing how democracy grows within countries by progressively institutionalizing, constructing political processes, and distributing the universal values that are inherent ...
Human’s have always struggled to express themselves. Art, is considered by many to be the ultimate form of human expression. Many assume that art has a definition, but this is not the case. Art, it can be said, is “in the eye of the beholder.” This simply means that what you consider art, someone else would not. Art is part of a person’s internal emotions, which signifies why different people see art as different things. Every type of culture and era presents distinctive and unique characteristics. Different cultures all have different views of what art can, and would be, causing art itself to be universally renowned throughout the world.